Commune chief drops complaint against Mu Sochua

Commune chief drops complaint against Mu Sochua

A complaint against Sam Rainsy Party legislator Mu Sochua had been dropped yesterday because a court would take too long to deal with it, Hor Vengnai, the Kandal province’s Kbal Koh commune chief who first filed the complaint, said.

On Wednesday, Hor Vengnai filed a complaint against Mu Sochua with the National Election Commission in response to her use of loudspeakers to disseminate voter information, which he saw as disturbing public order.

The NEC told Hor Vengnai he would have to take the complaint to court.

“I did not send the complaint to court,” Hor Vengnai said. “The court case is not easy and takes a long time, so my leaders have told me to end it.”

The complaint was a serious violation of human rights and free and fair elections, Mu Sochua told the Post yesterday. “The NEC has to stand on its own feet and be strong,” she said.

“That was a criminal complaint against me. The NEC should have responded straight away that giving voters registration information was allowed under their mandate.”

Solving disputes during the voter registration period was not within the NEC’s mandate, its secretary-general, Tep Nytha said. “Voter registration is within the competence of the local authority and the Ministry of Interior.”

The NEC had a problem-solving role only during the election campaign, Tep Nytha said.

The NEC delegated its powers to local authorities and the Interior Ministry during voter registration, Ministry of Interior spokesman Khieu Sopheak confirmed. “We act totally under the guidance of the NEC,” he said.

The NEC said in a meeting on Tuesday that the distribution of leaflets or the use of loudspeakers to spread voter-registration information must first be approved by local authorities.

The director of election watchdog Comfrel, Koul Panha, said: “The NEC should encourage and support this activity”.

MOST VIEWED

After a US congressmen introduced bipartisan legislation that will enact sanctions on Cambodian officials responsible for “undermining democracy” in the Kingdom, government officials and the ruling Cambodian People’s Party on Sunday said they regarded the potential action as the “violation of independence and sovereignty

Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Battambang will struggle to attain smart city status without adopting far reaching master plans, according to officials tasked with implementing the program.
The brainchild of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), the smart city program seeks to link up

The government has ordered all domestic and international internet traffic in the Kingdom to pass through a Data Management Centre (DMC) that has been newly created by the state-owned Telecom Cambodia, in a move some have claimed is an attempt to censor government critics.
Spokesman

The Cambodian tourism sector must be prepared to welcome a growing number of Chinese tourists, as they lead the globe in the number of outbound travellers and were responsible for the most visitors to the Kingdom last year, the country’s tourism minister said on